A Charlottesville/Albemarle Area RE Blog tracking the market's Boom Bubble Bust Bounce, from 2008 to 2013. The second half of 2010 saw a steep downward spiral in sales; 2011 saw sales volume at 13 yr lo with prices dropping each Quarter. 2012 began with even lower prices which resulted in an uptick in Y/Y sales, and mid-2012 saw "Carpe Diem" trumping "Caveat Emptor." 2013: Booming. Are we a "Protected Market" once again? Time will tell.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This 3 bd, 2.5 bath ca 1925 rehabbed house is in the 10th and Page section of the City of Charlottesville, and it has been repeatedly listed for foreclosure auction over the past year, before going back to Fannie Mae on Aug. 25.

10th and Page is one of the most poverty-stricken areas of the City, but in the heydey of the bubble, there was a hope that it could be "gentrified" like Belmont. Never happened. This particular house was purchased by a flipper for $117k in 2006, and resold in 2007 for the jaw-dropping $435k. The debt at foreclosure was $348k.

Now that the housing bubble is over, property values in 10th and Page have plunged (like everywhere else) tho if you drive on 10th St you still see the Smartee-colored houses that were optimistically built back then in hopes of making it a "mixed income" area.

Now who is going to pay $300k to live in this neighborhood? Importantly, who is going to appraise this house at $300K? Apparently, Fannie Mae? Fan will also let buyer do 3% for downpayment, and will pay buyer's closing costs.

Clearly your definition of location is not just actual physical location (convenience to UVA & Downtown etc.) but with regard to who your neighbors might be. In this case, judging from the Compton comment, it appears that you object to the presence of black people as neighbors. There are plenty of reasons to be negative to the price of this house (not a great lot, relatively busy street, relatively expensive for neighborhood) but the color of some of the neighbors skin is not one of them.

I think it might seem egregious and certainly opportunistic for white flippers to take advantage of lack of capital in poor neighborhoods, I'm not sure however that there is a racist motive or that it is implicitly racist.

Do you think that white people living in 10th and page are the victims of more crime? Do you think that black people living in 10th and page are statistically more likely to be victims of random crime? Poverty? I suppose its possible that folks are intimated by being surrounded by poverty and it certainly has its challenges. However, I imagine that the original comment is more likely to be construed and accepted by folks because it is very common for people of all races to feel uncomfortable living in an area where they are not the majority. Makes you think a little about how it feels to be a minority . . .

Va. Housing Development Authority market data for the local Realtors Assn. indicates rising foreclosures, declining prices, then "correction" at least 12 months away.Comparisons: See Current Median Home Prices in Cville, Alb, other parts of VA, and 20 other markets.

Home prices likely lower in 2011, in 85% of the United States' 381 metropolitan areas - PMI Group. Includes graphs.VP Biden - We "Misread the Economy" - VideoThe number of foreclosures keeps rising because mortgageholders can't afford the modifications. Read the data.

Halsey Minor, King of The Tyvek Tower, is being sued not just by contractors, but by the funding bank. TheLandmark Mess continues. City claims it will not bail out the blight on the landscape and a real contrast to the $7.5 million in bricks at the base of the steel girders.